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Friday, June 22, 2012

Sweet Saturday: Treacherous Conditions

The heart in Elias’s chest dropped into his stomach,
instantly nauseating him. What treachery was this?

His first thought was to stop the driver and have him turn
back directly. Perhaps the baron had not noticed his daughter’s absence yet. It
was still early, after all. Chances are he hasn’t yet discovered Elias was
gone. Sitting up abruptly, he reached to pound on the front wall to demand the
driver’s attention.

A piteous plea stopped him in mid-air. “Wait!” He could hear
her struggling to free herself from her entanglements under the seat. In one
fluid movement, Elias relocated to the other side of the coach and reached for
her hand to help her up. Breathlessly, she begged again as she pulled herself
onto the seat, “Please, monsieur.” Her eyes were wide and frantically shifting
around the coach.

Elias could do nothing but stare at her in evident horror.
His mind raced with the ensuing consequences. Surely, the lady knew what her
deceit would mean for them. Her father would assume he had taken her. There
would be nothing he could say to prove his innocence. Unless he returned her
before her absence was noted, all was lost. He opened his mouth to insist on
going back, but Jaime’s whispered appeal cut him off.

“Monsieur Talb, please don’t take me back. I cannot marry
Seigneur Dubois. I promise I will take my own life if I am forced into such a
marriage. Take me to Paris—I’ll find a ship to take me to England or America.”
Tears were already streaming down her face. The sight of them turned his
resolve to mush.

“Once again, mademoiselle, your impetuous behavior has
endangered us both. Do you realize what will happen to us if we are found
together?”

Her eyes flashed at him, and in spite of her tears, Elias
thought he saw the light of willful strategy, as if she knew exactly what she
was doing. But she was a woman, how could she devise such a scheme? Her gaze
held his as she spoke. “It could not be worse than what would happen if I had
stayed behind.”

Elias sat in silence, processing her words. Her behavior was
so forward, so unexpected. First, sneaking to his room in the still of the
night, and now stowing away in his carriage to escape to Paris in the company
of a man she hardly knew. His initial impression of her intelligence seemed off
base. Unless—she had intimated to him her ability to make her father believe
certain decisions were his own.

“How did you know I would leave this morning?”

“I saw it in your eyes last night. You are an honorable man
as I said. I knew if you were telling me the truth about how I affect you, you
would not consent to escorting me—in order to flee from temptation.”

“And so you believed the best course of action would be to
hide in the carriage of a man who admittedly cannot guarantee the safety of
your virtue with him?”

“I am depending on this man’s honor.”

“Mademoiselle, this man’s honor requires—my honor will not
allow me to travel alone with you under these conditions.”

“Conditions, monsieur?”

“We will be traveling for several days.”

“Is it the days which are bothering you, monsieur?” She
tilted her head and blinked her long eyelashes slowly, directing her gaze back
at him. “Or is it the nights?”